You are here

"Duke’s Coal Ash Kills, Deforms Fish, Study Says"

"Pollution from coal ash at a Duke Energy power plant in Wilmington kills hundreds of thousands of young fish a year and deforms many more, says a study commissioned by environmental groups that are suing Duke."

"Duke called the findings 'highly suspect,' saying its own studies over more than 30 years have found no health effects on fish.

Dennis Lemly, a research biologist at Wake Forest University who authored the environmental study, calculates that selenium from Duke’s ash kills 900,000 fish a year in Sutton Lake. The popular fishing lake cools water from Duke’s Sutton coal-fired power plant.

Duke retired the plant’s coal-burning units in November, but environmental advocates want Duke to remove the ash in two ponds at Sutton."